


I Would Never Let You Die

by Of_Monsters_And_Phan



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Dan and Phil Games, Dan and Phil play Slender, Scary Games Week, Slenderman - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-08
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-13 15:00:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 2,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4526529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Of_Monsters_And_Phan/pseuds/Of_Monsters_And_Phan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Dan Howell wakes up one ordinary morning, he has no idea that soon he will be plunged into a deadly world of the supernatural... and jumpscares. Phil is nowhere to be found, and Dan is forced to play one of the scariest games in history if he wants to find his best friend.<br/>But will either of them make it out alive?</p><p>(Teen and up for extremely mild language.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi Internet! I am new to Archive Of Our Own, but totally ready to write loads of phanfiction. This story is the first fanfiction that I have ever written, and the first one that I have ever uploaded to the Internet. I hope to write more in the future, mostly Dan and Phil probably.  
> Please enjoy this story and feel free to leave constructive criticism, but don't be mean, as it is my first fanfiction.  
> Also, this story is in chapters, and I will probably upload a new chapter every few days.  
> P.S. I also have a Wattpad account, Iridescent Leaves.  
> Enjoy!

_Dan and Phil Play Slender_

_Phil: How much would I have to pay you to come into this forest?_

_Dan: You couldn’t._

_Phil: Really?_

_Dan: No. No amount of money._

_Phil: What if it’d save my life, Dan?_

_Dan: I’d let you die, I’d let you die…_

 

 

Dan strolled to the kitchen and made himself a bowl of cereal.                                                                                                                            

“Phil?” he called. “Do you want cereal?”                                                                                                  

No answer.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

Eh, Phil was probably asleep still.                                                                                                      

Dan ate his cereal quickly, then assumed the browsing position on the sofa.                                                                                

“Facebook…” he mumbled, “Twitter… Instagram…”                                                                                                        

He browsed the Internet for nearly an hour, then called, “Phil?” again.                                                                                                            

Still no answer.                                                                                                                                                                            

“Phil!” he yelled, loudly. That would probably aggravate the landlord, but who cares, Dan thought decisively. He shoved his laptop off his legs and stood up, then he walked to Phil’s bedroom.                                                                                                                                                                              

“Phil –“ he began, but was cut off when he realised that Phil wasn’t in his bed. It wasn’t made, though had clearly been slept in.                                                                                                     

Had Phil left early to go somewhere?                                                                                                                                              

No, he never did that. Even if he’d just gone to buy milk, as a one-off, he’d have left a note, or…                                                                                                                                                          

A note! Dan scrambled around the room, searching for a note. When his search proved fruitless, he searched the rest of the apartment; the kitchen, the living room, his own bedroom, everywhere, but still no note.                                                                                                                                              

“He’ll be back soon,” Dan told himself. “It’ll be all like, hey Dan, oh hey Phil, just went out to get milk…” he trailed off as an unsteady feeling settled in his stomach.                                                                      

They’d bought some milk just last night.                                                                                                  

Oh God, where was he?                                                                                                                                                         

A billion silly and incredibly unlikely possibilities flashed through Dan’s head as he tried to calm himself down. He knew he was being stupid, there was surely an obvious explanation.

Then he spotted it. A tiny white triangle of paper sticking out from underneath the sofa. He snatched it and hoping for the comforting words of ‘Just nipped out for bread’, read it.                                          

Then his heart plummeted.


	2. Chapter 2

_Dan,_ the note read in a scribbled version of Phil’s handwriting, _He’s got me. He finally came for me and I don’t know what to do. You have to save me –_ and then the note ended.                                            

What WAS this?                                                                                                                              

Dan dropped the note and sprinted to his bedroom, picked up his phone and dialled 999.                                

“I think that my flatmate has been kidnapped, and –“ he stopped as he realised that the phone was broken, and the dialling hadn’t worked.                                                                          

“Crap.”                                                                                                                                                      

He crossed back to the living room to pick up the landline telephone, but as he did, he glanced back at the note and saw writing on the other side.                                                                                

He picked it up and resumed reading.                                                                                                                                                                

 

_I have your friend._

_He is in my forest._

_If you can successfully find him within three hours, you both can live._

_If you fail, you both will die._

Dan’s heart missed a beat as he read the next line -                                                                                                  

 

_\- Slenderman_                                                    

 

No, no, no.                                                                                                                                                                  

Slenderman had not kidnapped Phil, it was just a nightmare, provoked by that stupid Halloween week on the gaming channel. Dan pinched himself, but didn’t wake up.                                        

God. Dammit.                                                                                                                                            

He read the full note through carefully, and tried to figure out how he would get to Slenderman’s forest.                                                                                                                                                            

Through the computer?                                                                                                                  

Or maybe it was a random forest in England – or anywhere in the world.                                                                                  

Dan began to panic. Say the forest was on the other side of the world… how would he get there in less than three hours?                                                                                                            

Come on, think logically, Dan. Slenderman was mythical, therefore fictional, therefore must be in the game. And yet, it must be real in a sense, otherwise Phil would be in no real danger. Dan had no doubt that Slenderman would harm Phil every chance he got.                                                                          

He had to.                                                                                                                                      

He had to save Phil’s life.                                                                                                                                                            

Slowly, Dan walked towards the room with his computer with a heavy heart. He positioned himself in front of it, and clicked on a few icons until a title screen shimmered forth.                                                                

 

**Slender – The Eight Pages**                                                                                                               

 

Was he really doing this? Was he really entering a fictional realm to save his friend?                                        

Yep.                                                                                                                                              

Dan nearly cried as he clicked play, double checking that the fog was toggled off.                                                                                      

He played for a while, finding three pages in fifteen minutes and jumping out of his skin at every cricket sound. Was this it? Just play the game until he won, then Phil would be returned to him? Easy-peasy.                                                                                                                                                                

Ten minutes later, Dan discovered a fourth page. At this rate, he’d easily finish the game within three hours. Sure he might have to restart a few times, but it should be a piece of cake.                                                                                                                                                                        

As he swerved around a tree, the screen suddenly filled with static, and a smooth, featureless face jumped out at him. Dan screamed at the top of his lungs, but refused to panic. It’s okay, just restart and try again.                                                                                                                

But the game didn’t end. Slenderman vanished, as did the static.                                                                                                

Dan blinked, and in that split second, he found himself transported to a forest – in the game.                

He panicked

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has read this story and left kudos on it so far. It feels amazing.   
> See you next chapter!


	3. Chapter 3

“Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap.”

Dan found himself holding a torch, in a dark but mercifully un-foggy forest. He walked forward a few steps, and then tried to run. He was able to, but the torch automatically pointed down when he did.                                                                                                                                                                                

Dan realised that this was real; if Slenderman caught him, there was no restarting, he would just die a horrible death. He would win the game and find Phil. He couldn’t bear the thought of his best friend dying an agonising death.                                                                                                        

He checked his pocket and found four crumpled up pages there. Four out of eight, halfway there.                                                                                                                                                            

He walked around for a couple of minutes until he found the fence of salvation. He put his back to it, took a deep breath and clicked off his torch.                                                                    

“Not falling for that crap again,” he murmured.                                                                                                                    

He sidestepped along the fence for nearly ten minutes, never catching a single glimpse of Slenderman. Dan realised, however, that he wasn’t finding any pages this way, so he carefully switched on the torch and walked directly through the forest. This method worked, and he found two more pages without seeing Slenderman. Dan figured he was probably torturing Phil, the supernatural bastard.                                                                                                                                                              

Dan had no sense of time, as he had no watch or phone, although he estimated he had used up about an hour of time. He ran a couple of yards, and fortunately found the penultimate page.                                                                                                                                                                          

“Yes! Nearly there!” he yelled, before stopping in his tracks.                                                                                                                    

Should he have shouted? Was Slenderman attracted to sound?                                                                                                                        

Did he even have ears?                                                                                                                                                              

His fear was confirmed when he caught a glimpse of a humanoid figure standing on the horizon. He screamed, turned and ran, as fast as he could.                                                                                                                            

“Run run run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me, Slenderman… OH GOD YES YOU CAN!”                                

A pale, suited figure appeared to his right side, and Dan took off in another direction.                                      

“Crap, crap, crap, crap…”                                                                                                                                                                  

He stumbled into a clearing with a giant, imposing tree. He looked around and, not seeing his pursuer anywhere, switched off his torch. The starry night illuminated the clearing.                                                                                      

Dan cautiously made his way towards the tree, circling it. No page – but there was a small oblong carved into the bark at one side.                                                                                                          

A door, perhaps?                                                                                                                                                          

He pushed on it, but to no avail. He shone his light on it to examine it better, and noticed a small instruction written on it.                                                                                                                                

 

_Eight pages go here._                                                                                                                                                 

 

God dammit! Really? He had to leave this place to find the final page, then somehow make his way back here?                                                                                                                      

Damn Slender.                                                                                                                                        

Reluctantly, he left the clearing, just as his torch began to flicker.                                                                                              

What? He’d barely had it on, it couldn’t be running out.                                                                                                

The torch died.                                                                                                                                            

Yes, it could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I know next to nothing about Slender. What I do know is from Dan and Phil play Slender, so if any facts are wrong it is for the sake of the plot. Have a nice day. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Dan was in near-total darkness. He couldn’t see an inch in front of his face, so resorted to walking around with arms outstretched, like a zombie. He’d heard on Facebook or somewhere that Slenderman was more likely to find you if he could see your light.

Considering he was eyeless this seemed too good to be true, but he had a small glimmer of hope that he wouldn’t die before saving Phil.                                                                                          

Phil. Dan’s heart broke for him. He was probably screaming right now, in terrible pain, being tortured by Slenderman. Dan’s cheek felt wet, and he realised he was crying.

Stop, stop. Succumbing to emotion would not help Phil.                                                                                                                    

Purely by chance, Dan slammed into a wall, grazing the tips of his outstretched fingers.                                      

“Ouch!”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

It was a wall of some kind, maybe brick or stone, but it could have the final page. Dan felt around for a bit, until he felt the blissful texture of thin wood pulp – the final page! Dan grabbed in and stuffed it in his pocket.                                                                                                              

What now, though? He guessed he had to return to the tree clearing, but he wasn’t sure; he had never actually completed the game.                                                                                                                                                                      

So, in his best attempt to find the clearing, Dan swung around 180 degrees and tiptoed away.                                                                                                                                                                                            

“Ffffff…”                                                                                                                                                   

As he crept through the forest, he kept glimpsing frightening silhouettes, but no static. This gave him no comfort – he had no idea where the tree was, and only guessed that Phil was there.                                                                                                                                                                                

Dan thought he heard a twig snap under a foot, and glanced behind him, only for his vision to cloud and fizz.                                                                                                                                                    

He screamed as Slenderman descended upon him.                                                                                                      

Nevertheless, he turned and ran, dropping his useless torch and sprinting in a random direction.                                                                                                                                                        

A few times Dan checked if he had evaded the pale man, but no. Slenderman was clearly going to make sure that both Dan and Phil would die.                                                                                        

Good God, Slenderman, play fair.                                                                                                                       

By a miracle, Dan saw a tree that he recognised, and continued forward. He had realised by this time that he had less than an hour to save Phil and escape the clutching fingers of the forest.                                                                                                                                                                          

Was that a clearing?... no, just a pile of rocks. Was that…? nope, again…                                                                                                                        

Dan was beginning to lose hope when he actually found it!                                                                                                                                

The clearing with the big tree!                                                                                                                                      

“Phil, I am coming for you,” said Dan as he pulled the sheets of paper from his pocket. He smoothed them out and snuck towards the tree. He gently placed them in what he hoped was the correct position. The ‘door’ swung open.                                                                                                                          

He could hardly contain his delight. Success was tangible. “Yes, yes, yes!”                                                                                                              

Then he regained his solemnness and stepped into the tree. And dropped down about two metres.                                                                                                                                                              

Dan landed weirdly on his elbow, and feared he had damaged his arm because the pain was so intense… but then the pain melted away.                                                                                                                                                

Because Phil was there, lying slanted on a metal operating table. His pyjama shirt was covered in blood, and his left arm was caked in the stuff. His eyes were closed, but Dan could see his chest rising and falling normally.                                                                                                          

Dan crept towards Phil’s lifeless form, and whispered in his ear -                                                                                            

“Phil.”                                                                                                                                                                                            

Phil slowly opened his eyes, his emotionless mouth twisting into an ecstatic grin.                                                      

“Dan?”


	5. Chapter 5

“Hi Phil,” Dan said.                                                                                                                                                        

“Oh God, Dan, I thought I would never see you again.”                                                                                                            

“Well, you have now.” Dan quickly untied the ropes holding his friend. “Besides, you left me the note, you must have hoped I would come for you. Your note wasn’t very helpful, by the way, I nearly didn’t find it.”                                                                                                                          

Phil remained quiet as he was freed.                                                                                                        

“What? Are you alright?”                                                                                                                                                            

Phil sighed as he stood up. “I thought… I honestly thought that you wouldn’t come.”                                                          

“Why not?” Dan asked.                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

“Because… you said when we were playing Slender… I know it was probably a joke, but you said that you would never come into this forest, even to save my life.”                                                

Dan reached out and touched Phil’s shoulder. “Phil. You are my best friend. I can’t envisage a life without you. Believe me, I would never let you die.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Phil blushed. “Thanks.”                                                                                                                    

“Oh God, Phil,” Dan gasped, suddenly alarmed. “Your arm!”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Phil’s left arm had a large gash on it, with blood leaking from it. Dried blood was encrusted around the wound.                                                                                                                                                                                

“Yeah, Slenderman experimented on me, I think,” Phil explained. “ He took some blood from my arm, but didn’t bother sewing it back up.”                                                                                                                        

Dan cringed.                                                                                                                                          

“What happened to your arm?”                                                                                                                      

“Huh?” Dan glanced at his own arm, and realised that it was sticking out at an odd angle.

“Oh crap.”                                                                                                                                                                       

Phil removed his belt and gave it to Dan as a makeshift sling. Dan gave Phil a handkerchief to staunch the bleeding.                                                                                                                                                            

“How do we get out of this place?” Dan said exasperatedly.                                                                                                                                              

“Climb up to the door, I guess.”                                                                                                                                                                              

“Is there a Slender rope or something?”                                                                                                                                                  

Phil felt around the wall for a moment. “Oh!”                                                                                                                

The floor began to rise.                                                                                                                                                                                        

“What did you do?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

“I pressed a button,” Phil answered helpfully.                                                                                                                                                                                      

The floor continued to rise like an oversized elevator, until it became level with the tiny wooden door.                                                                                                                                           

“There are certainly some things that they don’ t mention in the game, right?” Dan quipped.                          

They stepped out of the tree, Phil limping a little.                                                                                        

“Where now, then?” he asked.                                                                                                                                                

“I should be asking you that question. What happened to those amazing powers of orienteering?”                                                                                                                                                                        

Phil shook his head. “I don’t know. Slenderman knocked me out and dragged me here unconscious. How did you get here?”                                                                                                                                                

Dan thought for a second, then said, “I played the game for a while, then was teleported to here. I was… I was… near the concrete dome, I think.”                                                                                                  

“The Slendey Tube?”                                                                                                                          

Dan laughed for the first time since he had woken up that morning. “Yes, the Slendey Tube.”                        

“Maybe if we find that, we can find our way home,” Phil reasoned.                                                                        

Dan nodded. “Okay… but we still don’t know how to get there, God dammit!”                                                                                          

“If we just… keep walking forwards?”                                                                                                                    

Dan nodded again, but as he was doing so noticed that the pages had vanished. One single, lined piece of paper remained. He stooped and picked it up.                                                                                  

“At least we’re safe now – more or less,” Phil continued. “I mean, we’ve won the game, haven’t we?” He faltered as he caught Dan’s expression. “Have-haven’t we?”                                                                        

Dan had read what was on the paper.                                                                                                                                                                            

“What?”


	6. Chapter 6

The note read -                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

 

 

_You didn’t think I would let you win that easy, did you?_

_You have ten minutes._                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 

“We have TEN DAMN MINUTES!?”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

“What?” Phil asked. “No way. Oh damn.”                                                                                                                        

“So it doesn’t even matter that I saved you… we still have to get out of here in ten minutes?”                                                  

“Okay, well, I guess we need to find the Slendey Tube fast.”                                                                                                                      

“No kidding.”                                                                                                                                                                          

Dan and Phil began to run, faster than they had ever ran before. They never slowed down and they never lost breath, because they were, quite literally, running for their lives.                                            

Along the way, they saw Slenderman a lot, up in their faces, in their peripheral vision, and they could barely see where they were going, as they were constantly being blinded by static.                                                                                                                                                                                    

“We must have… only about… five minutes left,” gasped Phil.                                                                                                                      

“Yeah… but where is… the Tube?”                                                                                                                                                          

Then Slenderman appeared right next to them, and stretched out an elongated arm to grab them, but they had already ran away.                                                                                                                                      

“Look, Phil,” Dan panted. “We might not find the Tube – we might not get out of here.”                                        

“I – I know.”                                                                                                                                                    

“So I just wanted to tell you… you are the best friend I could ever have asked for, and I can’t imagine a life without you. That’s why I came for you. I’d rather we both died together than apart.”                                                                                                                                                           

“I’d rather we didn’t die at all,” Phil remarked. “But thanks. You’re my best friend too.”                                                            

And then – like a candle in the darkest night – the dome came into view.                                                                                

“No way!” Dan exclaimed.                                                                                                            

Phil moved closer, breathing heavily. “There’s a sort of… purple sheen around the entrance.”                                

“There’s a what now?”                                                                                                                            

At the entrance to the tube there was a violet, translucent wall, and it was shimmering like a portal.                                                                                                                                                      

“This must be it!” Dan said excitedly. “Let’s go –“ he stopped short as Phil grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “What?”                                                                                                                                      

“Don’t go through yet,” Phil said.                                                                                                  

“Are you insane? Why not?” Dan hissed.                                                                                                                                      

“Slenderman could follow us through. If there’s one thing worse than us in Slender world, it’s Slenderman in our world. If we wait until the last second, he won’t be able to catch us. See?” He pointed to the ‘portal’, which was already fading from existence. “It will probably disappear when time is up.”                                                                                                                            

“Ohhh. Good idea.”                                                                                                                                                  

They caught a glimpse of Slenderman behind a tree.                                                                                                                

“Back to the wall, back to the wall, back to the wall…”                                                                                                                

They each backed against the wall of the dome, ready for a surprise attack.                                                          

“How long do we have?”                                                                                                                                                              

“How do I know? A minute, maybe?”                                                                                                                                                  

“Just go through now,” Dan urged. “He’s not here.”                                                                                        

“He’s somewhere.”                                                                                                                                            

Dan edged around the side of the tube. “Phil, I think it’s going to close in about a second.”

The translucent curtain had all but vanished in the last thirty seconds.                                                        

“Phil! We have to go!”                                                                                                                                              

“Okay,” Phil said. He tore his eyes away from the dark forest and stepped towards the swirling purple sheen.                                                                                                                                        

“Now?”                                                                                                                                                                              

“You first,” Dan replied, smiling.                                                                                                                                                

Phil smiled back and stepped forward. He vanished into the shimmering curtain.                                                      

Dan took a small step forward, turned around and yelled -                                                                                                      

“See you, Slendey! Oh, and by the way… we win!”                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

And stepped forward.            

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished! Thank you to all you guys who read this and left kudos. Love you all!


End file.
